


The Mark of a Great Leader

by thesometimeswarrior



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Episode: s02e20 The Crossroads of Destiny, Ficlet, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Post-Canon, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 17:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9835229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: “The offer that I made in Ba Sing Se,” says Katara in response to Zuko’s question. “You know, to try to heal your scar. It still stands.”Zuko and Katara, after the War.





	

“You know,” says Katara, without looking up from the stack of scrolls she’s sorting through. “My offer still stands.”

“What?” Zuko’s eyes are also on a stack of scrolls ( _stack_ is generous phrasing, he thinks. It’s more like a messy pile, a clump of half-unrolled realms of parchment), this one sitting on his desk. It’s the first day he’s had in the four months since his coronation without a meeting or some sort of public appearance scheduled, so, of course, he has to spend it waging war on the chaos that is his office. His uncle only recently moved back to Ba Sing Se, and though he has made it clear that he is willing to come back and help whenever Zuko needs him, the Fire Lord is not willing to call him for something as trivial as helping to organize.

 _Well, then, I’ll come_ , Katara had written when Zuko mentioned as much in one of his letters, and also how the task overwhelmed him. _Aang is going on a meditation retreat that weekend at the Southern Air Temple anyway...He hasn’t had a chance to, since the War ended._

And then she had arrived, before Zuko could reply telling her it wasn’t necessary. 

(And, when she did, he could not hide is visible relief, despite his best attempts.)

“The offer that I made in Ba Sing Se,” says Katara in response to Zuko’s question. “You know, to try to heal your scar. It still stands.”

Now he looks up at her. “But…Didn’t you say you used all your Spirit Water to heal Aang after Azula...?”

“I did.” She meets his gaze. “But I imagine that the Northern Water Tribe would be willing to part with a little bit more for this. For you.”

“It sets a dangerous precedent.”

“In what way?”

“Well,” says Zuko, considering. “The Spirit Oasis is an extremely finite resource. If people, even privileged people, started taking bits of it for healing purposes, it will all be depleted in no time…”

“Listen to you, starting to talk like the leader of a country!”

“Yeah, well…”

“But seriously,” Katara continues after a moment. “I said I would help you in Ba Sing Se. When I say things to help people, I see them through no matter what, and the Northern Water Tribe will just have to—”

“Still?”

“What?”

“You made me an offer, and then I turned around and betrayed you! Are you still bound to see it through?”

“Well, you’ve more than made up for it! Teaching Aang, saving all of our lives, saving _my_ life…”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Zuko, of course it does!”

“No, I mean...It doesn’t matter whether or not you still feel honor-bound to do it. I don’t want you to heal my scar.”

“What? Are you sure?”

“It reminds me of everything I had to go through to get where I am. I _had_ to be the Banished Prince to realize the truth about honor, and the truth about myself. About the Fire Nation and my father. Without this scar and what it represents, I never would have realized that I needed to find my way to your group. I never would have helped you defeat my father. And when I became Fire Lord, who knows…” He turns away from her toward his window facing the Turtle Duck Pond. “Maybe I would have been just as bad as him.”

“No, you wouldn’t have.”

“You don’t know that. And neither do I. This scar marks me—it’s a symbol of all that I’ve been through, all the struggling and suffering that’s made me who I am. That’s made me strong. It’s _mine._ And I'm going to keep it.”

“Zuko.”

He turns his head back to look at her.

“You’re going to be a great Fire Lord.”

And when Zuko turns his attention back toward the chaos on his desk, it is with a smile. Yes, he is still overwhelmed, but he knows, suddenly, that he can do it, can be the leader that his Nation, and his world, needs. Because he has people behind him, beside him. He is not alone. He won’t ever be alone.

“Thank you, Katara,” he says.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> I love comments!


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